144 FUCHT International, 4 February 1971
Docking delay
Following a perfect launch at 2103
GMT on January 31, Apollo 14 ran
into problems which, at the time this
page went to press, are causing serious
doubts about the plans for a Moon
landing.
The only launch problem was that
of a 40min delay because of adverse
weather. Count-down was progressing
smoothly until 2015 GMT (T-8.02min)
when a hold was called to allow
threatening clouds to pass. Controllers
had no wish to repeat the incident of
Apollo 12 when a lightning strike, as
the rocket entered the cloud, caused
a momentary power failure. The re
sulting precautions preclude launch
while there is any cloud within 5 miles
of the launch pad. However, half an
hour later, a weather aircraft above
the cloud reported all clear and count
down proceeded towards lift-off at
2103 GMT.
The problem came 3hr after lift
off and shortly after the S-IVB third
stage had injected the spacecraft into
its trans-lunar trajectory. At this point
the command module, Kitty Hawk,
must be detached and turned round
to dock with the lunar module,
Antares, tucked into the end of the
S-IVB. A docking probe activates three
initial catches which hold the two
spacecraft together until 12 securing
clamps take hold. However, at the first
docking attempt the catches did not
operate; four further attempts were
equally unsuccessful. Finally, at the
sixth attempt, the contact pressure was
boosted by a small discharge from a
nitrogen capsule and, although initial
catches still did not operate, the lock
ing clamps took hold satisfactorily.
An indication as to the cause of
the failure was given by a momentary
flash of an electrical failure warning
light shortly before the docking. Re
ported at the time, this was forgotten
during the suspense of the docking
problem, and attention was drawn to it
again only after the docking was com
pleted and the controllers on Earth
were attempting to analyse the cause.
In spite of the final docking
success, doubts remained because the
controllers were not satisfied that the
manoeuvre could be repeated, as is re
quired during rendezvous after the
LM leaves the Moon. If the actual
Moon landing were to be precluded,
there seems to be no reason why the
crew should not go ahead with their
secondary mission of photographing
the Moon from lunar orbit.
Patuxent River Harrier
First flight of the first US Marine
Corps Harrier to be shipped to the
United States was made at the Naval
Air Test Centre, Patuxent River, Md,
last Friday, January 29. The aircraft
had been flown from the HSA airfield
at Dunsfold, Surrey, by C-133, which
left there on January 24, making a
refuelling stop at Mildenhall before
its transatlantic flight.
Lynx in the Lead
The Westland-Aerospatiale WG.13
Lynx is the top candidate for the US
Navy's new utility helicopter, accord
ing to officials in Washington. A
Reuter report last week suggests that
the result of a cut in expenditure on
the Lamps (light airborne multi
purpose system) is to favour this
Anglo-French helicopter, which is due
to make its first flight shortly.
The US Navy initially asked for
$68 million for Lamps development
next year, but this has been cut to
$38 million. So Lamps, which all along
was to have been based on a helicopter
already available, will have to be even
more "off the shelf" if the Navy's need
for 200 aircraft at a cost of $500,000
each is to be satisfied.
Another serious contender is the
Kaman Sealite, a development of the
UH-2 Seasprite which has been in
service with the Navy for many years.
A third possibility is the Messer-
schmitt-Bolkow-Blohm B6105, but this
is thought to be too small to fit the
requirements (though Boeing has a
financial interest in the development
of this German helicopter).
Lunar Trainer Crash
One of Nasa's Lunar Landing
Training Vehicles crashed on January
29 at Ellington AFB near Houston
Western Puma The first of the five
Anglo-French collaborative projects came to
fruition when the first (XWI98 and XWI99)
of 40 SA.330E Pumas was handed over to RAF
Support Command at Yeovil last week (below).
The helicopter, produced jointly by Westland
and Snias, is the first "metric" aircraft to be
delivered to the RAF. The first unit to form
will be the 0CU based at Odiham. A fuller
report will be carried in next week's issue
Eastern Sea King The Indian Navy
recently took delivery of its first two West-
land Sea Kings (right). An order for six of the
type was placed last year. The aircraft are
expected to complement the squadron of
Breguet Alizes operational on the Indian
Navy carrier "Vikrant"
''Flight" photograph